Tétrault’s front row seat to 50 years of change in La Broquerie

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Larry Tétrault did not think he would get the job that started him down the road of a 50-year career in municipal politics and administration.

“At the time, I was a partner with my brother on the dairy farm. We had rented the farm from my dad (Joseph, a Seine River school trustee and La Broquerie councillor in the ‘50s and ‘60s). And my dad said, ‘There’s no room for two families on this small dairy farm, maybe you should apply at the municipality.’

“I said well, they won’t hire a 20-year-old but I’ll do it just to please you. And in the end they did hire me,” said Tétrault.

CHRIS GAREAU THE CARILLON 

Larry Tétrault says the rebuilding after a fire of La Broquerie’s arena in 1978 was key in the community’s survival. Tétrault, now a councillor for the RM, got his start in municipal politics as a CAO in January 1975 at the age of 20.
CHRIS GAREAU THE CARILLON Larry Tétrault says the rebuilding after a fire of La Broquerie’s arena in 1978 was key in the community’s survival. Tétrault, now a councillor for the RM, got his start in municipal politics as a CAO in January 1975 at the age of 20.

He was on the job Jan. 27, 1975.

Qualifications sought in the application were a bit different back when Census Canada in 1976 counted 1,523 people in the whole RM, which is now home to nearly 7,000.

“I was raised on a dairy farm and four members of council knew me from working on farms and helping neighbours, etc. So they knew I worked hard, and I was bilingual, and I knew how to type,” said Tétrault, who is now himself a councillor for the RM after being first elected in a 2015 byelection.

“These were the main questions when I was interviewed.”

He has seen a lot of stuff since then: fires, rebuilding, a missing gun from when La Broquerie had its own police officer, HyLife moving in, a golf course built in town, the hotel and restaurant he used to own and helped build, massive growth and the pressures on infrastructure that creates, a new school that is now bursting with the community’s new residents, the establishment of the fire department and building of a new firehall, a lingering decades-long political back-and-forth from long-time residents of different western European decent, and his brief exodus to Springfield.

“After 32 years dealing with neighbours and relatives and strangers, I guess you make some people that don’t really like you. There was a coalition against council at the time and against me, and some of them got elected and they didn’t want to work with me so they offered me a package to leave.

“It was a sad time for me and a very trying time for me to leave the community that I love and the people I had served,” said Tétrault.

Springfield brought him on to help build a recreation centre, something Tétrault said he regrets not being able to complete before he retired in 2011. Tie votes in Springfield council meant the project never moved forward.

He then spent a few years as a consultant helping businesses navigate the sometimes labyrinthian world of zoning and development before joining council.

La Broquerie council has had several 4-3 votes with large consequences, including joining the multi-million-dollar regional wastewater plant to be built near Niverville. There is a divide on how to deal with the full lagoons, something that Tétrault admits used to get his, as he put it, French blood up.

But he said he has appreciated mentors of the past as he matures.

John Giesbrecht served the RM for decades and was the first person Tétrault listed as an influence on him in his career. He said Giesbrecht was someone who united the seemingly disparate people of Wards 1 and 2.

“John was a visionary, and a determination to build the RM of La Broquerie. I always admired … how he brought people together, even when we didn’t think the same way.

“Don’t forget the RM of La Broquerie is very diverse. We still call Ward 1 the Mennonite ward and Ward 2 the French one. And he showed me how people of different ethnic backgrounds could work together to build a better municipality,” said Tétrault.

He added that the rebuilding of the arena after a fire in 1977 destroyed it was key in keeping the community alive, and made it possible to grow into what it is today. That arena was rebuilt in 1978, with artificial ice added in 1985 while Giesbrecht was still reeve.

The rebuilding was far from assured.

CARILLON ARCHIVES 

Luc and Larry Tétrault (right) at the RM of La Broquerie municipal office in October 1999, look over plans for the new La Broquerie Hotel, scheduled for opening in May of 2000.
CARILLON ARCHIVES Luc and Larry Tétrault (right) at the RM of La Broquerie municipal office in October 1999, look over plans for the new La Broquerie Hotel, scheduled for opening in May of 2000.

“There was a referendum and it was defeated. Then John Giesbrecht became reeve. And he promised if he was elected he would build the arena, even if his ward did not really use the arena. But he felt La Broquerie was a hockey town, and without an arena and rec services the community would probably die,” said Tétrault.

The vote was 4-3 to rebuild.

Then it was up to the young CAO, who had no staff at the time, to get to work and find the grants and fundraise to get the new arena and hall built.

“So that was the start I think for our community to start growing,” said Tétrault.

Something similar to the sewer situation they find themselves in now was the second big project Tétrault listed as key for his community’s survival. The 1988 gravity sewer.

The Province put a stop to all building developments in the town until they dealt with their reliance on septic tanks and fields. It cost $1.1 million when the population was a lot lower, meaning an astounding mill rate increase of 22.

Tétrault insisted that in the end, everyone supported it because of the long-term benefit to the RM and homeowners.

Then there was the arrival of HyLife in 1993, started by three brothers. Tétrault said the sewer was a direct reason why they were ready to take on the hog business.

He also pointed to the new municipal office, and Southern Health moving into the old one in the mid-‘90s. Tétrault also remembers the controversy of the old office being sold for below its market value less than 15 years later by the reeve and council that asked him to leave his CAO position.

While acknowledging the divisiveness of years past, Tétrault is glad he can keep his temper better now with the rise of social media and what he sees as the domination of attention by the few loudest.

“There are some negative people and they make way more noise than in 1975. And they get a few people and people think everybody thinks their way, so I don’t like the word coalition because it seems it’s always negative,” said Tétrault.

While he did try to run in provincial politics, losing to former Dawson Trail MLA Ron Lemieux, Tétrault said he plans to stay in municipal politics and run again next election. He also hopes to stay on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities where he is elected to represent Manitoba.

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